Cuban prisons are kept free of Covid-19

Cuban prisons have been kept free of coronavirus as a result of measures adopted in those centers, said Colonel Osmani Leyva, second head of the Department of Prisons at the Ministry of the Interior (MININT).

Thanks to the wise leadership of the State and the government, as well as discipline and understanding of the prisoners and their relatives, we have managed to prevent the spread of the disease, the official said on Wednesday on the national television program 'Hacemos Cuba.'

Leyva acknowledged that those centers were forced to adopt severe measures to avoid contagions within penal establishments, such as limiting visits.

Other measures implemented at prisons are the mandatory disinfection at entry points to the centers and the use of facemasks. In May, some inmates over 60 years of age, pregnant women deprived of freedom and those on provisional release were released as a 'human and flexibility gesture,' he said.

Those penalized for crimes such as murder, homicide, child abuse with violence, rape, corruption of minors, livestock theft and slaughter, drugs, fuel theft or administrative corruption were not included.